It is the 160th anniversary of the Eureka rebellion in 1854, when the gold diggings took up arms against the injustice and harsh treatment by colonial authorities with the growing push for democratic reforms in the Australian colonies.

It led to Colonial authorities ordering a military attack on the crude Eureka stockade on Sunday – the sabbath day – December 3, 2014. While the battle raged for perhaps 15 minutes, the butchery, burning and pillaging by the Victoria Police continued over a wide area for a couple of hours.

Although 22 diggers bodies were buried in a group grave at the Old Ballarat Cemetery, some rresearchers estimate that with martial law in place many diggers would have gone into hiding and some would have subsequently died of their wounds. The death rate may be over 50, but we will never know the exact number. At least one anonymous woman is knon to have been killed in the battle or subsequent massacre at Eureka.

Ballarat has become synonomous in Australia with Eureka and the roots of the democratic tradtion and resistance in Australia. The stylised flag appears on the logo for Ballarat City Council, Federation University and many local businesses. So you would think the city would take pride in the story of Eureka, the history, the remembrance of those who fell defending their rights and liberties. Yet when Joe Toscano first visited Ballarat on the anniversary of Eureka on December 3 in 2002, he found no events of commemoration on the anniversary date, although Eureka’s Children and the Eureka Museum were holding events on the nearest weekend.

From 2002 Joe Toscano and a small collection of people set out to remember the radical spirit of the Eureka Rebellion on each anniversary on December 3.

What we found over succeeding years as a litany of shame in the local history and heritage and intransigence by the local council in even taking some pride in the Eureka history. In 2013 we found the Eureka Flag flying from the flagpole on Bakery Hill threadbare and in urgent need of replacement. Over succeeding years the diggers grave in Old Ballarat Cemetery has had a lack of mainenaince with weeds and occasionally no flag flying on the flag pole. This is what we found in 2014: weeds, a few old plastic flowers and no Eureka Flag. The soldiers ar memorial – a British war graves site – we found to have been mown recently but no British flag flying from the flagpole.

The streets of Ballarat are awash with Christmas decorations, but the only official Eureka flags or Eureka bunting we saw were at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (MADE) in Eureka Park, on the flagpole at Bakery Hill, and a secondary flagpole atop Ballarat Toen Hall. There was no bunting, no outward sign of the city celebrating it’s historical traditions as a significant birthplace for democracy in Australia.

The Victorian Government in June 2014 funded $300,000 (Ballarat Courier) to celebrate the 160th anniversary. Granted there is a new sculpture – the pikeman’s dog – in Eureka Park and an official memorial service on the morning of December 3, and perhaps money also went to organising other events. But there are few outward signs the money has been spent in the simplest of tasks of maintaining the graves of those who died at Eureka, both diggers and soldiers. This would be scandalous in most countries of the remembrance of such an iconic historical event.

So each year Joe Toscano, myself and a collection of other people, some local, some from Melbourne, and some from even further afield, travel to Ballarat to commemorate the spirit of those who fought for their rights and liberties and were slaughtered and butchered on the battlefield of the Eureka lead.

In many countries an event like the Eureka Stockade rebellion of 1854 would be commemorated, celebrated, even revered by the town or city where it occurred. But not in Ballarat. The City of Ballarat are happy to live off the tourism income from the Eureka heritage, even incorporating the eureka flag in their stylised logo, but do little in maintaining let alone building respect and recognition for the Eureka anniversary – Eureka Day. It is a national Shame.

In past years there has been some limited attempt to commemorate the anniversary event with an official flag raising outside the Town Hall, but not even that occurred this year.

The Eureka Flag has never flown from atop the highest flagpole on the Ballarat Town Hall. The Council continues to be in denial of the local and national significance of the agitation and popular rebellion on the goldfields of 1854 and it’s relevance to today.Continue reading →

In the cold and early hours of December 3 2013, people will gather in Ballarat to commemorate the 159th anniversary of the Eureka Rebellion. It was a battle lost at the time in 1854, a slaughter by troopers and police of those who stood their ground for basic rights, but it sent ripples through the colony of Victoria and across Australia at the time. Indeed the event was talked about internationally. Like a rock skipping upon a lake it continues to ripple through time affecting how we interpret rebellion, protest, the social democratic and direct democracy traditions here in Australia.

The 4am vigils at the Eureka Monument on the morning of December 3 usually attract about 50 people, from around Australia and even a few international visitors. Over the last few years West Papuans have joined the vigil and the activities during the day. The events have a raw meaning in their fight for justice and independence for West Papua.

As in previous years, the vigil will be broadcast live on Melbourne community radio 3CR from 4am to 6am.

This year larger numbers of the West Papuan Independence Movement will be involved in all
facets of the celebrations. Mr. Jacob Rumbiak, the Foreign Minister in exile, will be coming to Ballarat to receive a Eureka Australia Day Medal for the personal sacrifices he has personally made (imprisoned for 10 years, tortured by the Indonesian authorities). He fled to Australia in 1998. He is the senior member of the West Papuan Independence Movement who is currently not in an Indonesian prison.Continue reading →

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, December 3rd, some 40 people gathered in the dark at the monument in Eureka park in Ballarat. For the last 10 years people have gathered at the monument for a dawn vigil to remember those who died one morning 157 years ago fighting to defend basic rights and liberties.

It is a moving ceremony, held in the dark, in the quiet of night and as dawn slowly lightens the sky. If the clouds are in abeyance you can clearly see the southern cross in the sky, that iconic southern constellation that became a symbol for freedom, for rights and liberties and the demand for universal suffrage.

The persecution of Julian Assange and wikileaks for publishing diplomatic cables, and information on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars is just the latest in government suppression of freedom of speech and human rights and liberties, which past generations have fought for including the men and women of the Eureka rebellion in Ballarat in 1854. I have just returned from Ballarat where I was part of the commemoration of the Eureka Rebellion in 1854 – the 156th anniversary. The struggle for democratic rights and liberties and against corrupt government continues in 2010.Continue reading →

Some 25 people stood around a monument in Ballarat in the pre-dawn hours of December 3 aknowledging the Eureka Diggers who fought and died to defend our rights and liberties one hundred and fifty five years ago.

The Dawn Commemoration this year was broadcast live from 4am to 6am on Melbourne Community Radio Station 3CR. Dr Joe Toscano gave an informative introduction on the Eureka rebellion and its importance for us today, before passing the microphone around the circle for everyone to articulate the personal meaning of Eureka for us today facing new onslaughts on our rights and liberties.

Two activists from New South Wales were honoured in the Eureka Australia awards: 93 year old Phyllis Johnson from Padstow, and Wollongong activist Hans Post. The 154th anniversary commemmoration of Eureka on December 3 continues to explore the relevance of social activism and history. Various activities through out the day explored the meaning of the Eureka Rebellionto participants, the propaganda war on the Eureka story, and a recognition of those activists who have made social contributions in the spirit of Eureka through the Eureka Australia Medal awards at Bakery Hill.

Eureka Day at Ballarat is both an emotionally and physically exhausting day. Starting at 4.00am and finishing around 3.00pm, it can be a particularly tiring day for people who have only managed to get a few hours sleep. This year was the 6th Anarchist Media Institute Australia Day celebrations. As the 3rd of December fell on a Monday, many of the participants from the last 2 years didn’t put in an appearance, sending their apologies instead. A pity when you think about it, because the idea behind holding the celebrations on the 3rd was to encourage people to take the day off work.Continue reading →

Peter McGregor and Doreen Burrow from New South Wales were among seven Australians honoured under the Eureka Australia Day awards announced at Bakery Hill in Ballarat on December 3, 2007, the 153rd anniversary of the Eureka Rebellion.

The Fight to defend rights and liberties of the diggers 152 years ago still resonates with activists today. In 1854 British troops and the newly formed Victorian Police attacked and crushed a rebellion of miners at Ballarat. Agitation for democratic reforms had been building for a number of years across the various Goldfields, but it was on the Eureka diggings that this reform movement made a stand, to “swear by the Southern Cross, to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties”.

A number of events occurred to mark the anniversary including a Diggers march from Bakery Hill to the Eureka Monument; a Sunday Dawn Lantern walk; a 4am vigil on Dec 3 at the monument; a dawn oration; a march to Bakery Hill and the Cemetary including presentation of the Eureka Australia Day medals; and a Eureka Day luncheon.Continue reading →